


A Whole Latte (Pretend) Love

by fedzgurl



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Stucky Secret Santa 2015, War Veteran Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 23:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5475338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fedzgurl/pseuds/fedzgurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky Barnes was lucky enough to have a favorite study spot on campus where he could work his way through his computer engineering degree in peace - until the day a walking wet dream literally dropped into his lap and begged him to pretend they were dating.</p><p>As far as bizarre distractions go, it wasn't so bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Whole Latte (Pretend) Love

**Author's Note:**

> Here’s a short fic for tumblr user nerd-ace, who likes both coffee house AUs and fake-dating fics, so I thought I’d smash the both together into a painfully fluffy meet-cute for Stucky Secret Santa 2015. 
> 
> I hope this fits the bill for what you were wanting – Happy Holidays!! <3

Bucky Barnes had been lucky enough to discover The Bean Pot during a midterms week freak-out first semester of his freshman year.  The campus coffee shop had been the perfect place for him to study, and was probably the only reason he had passed Calc 3.  The undergraduate library had been too chaotic and loud to focus, the graduate library was so quiet that he felt like he was slowly going insane the one time he’d tried it, and if he studied in his dorm room he risked either wasting the entire night away on BuzzFeed quizzes or falling into a studying frenzy and forgetting to sleep for two or three days.

The Bean Pot, though, was perfect – just enough quiet bustle and white noise to allow him to focus on his assignments without losing himself in his own head, a set schedule (outside of finals time, when they were mercifully opened 24-hours for the week), and plain black drip coffee that was just cheap enough that he could afford it on his meager tutoring earnings.  Even better, most of the students who were regulars were graduate students, as the majority of the undergrad crowd tended to frequent the Starbucks locations closer to the dorms and library.  Bucky didn’t necessarily dislike his fellow classmates, but being at least five years older than the vast majority of them meant that they didn’t have much in common, and while it wasn’t always so bad in classroom situations, it didn’t meant that he wanted to hang out with them, either.

So – The Pot it was.  He had a regular overstuffed chair in the corner that tended to be open whenever he came in, the staff all knew him and didn’t seem to mind that he regularly bought the cheapest item on the menu then camped out with his beat-up programming laptop for hours on end.  Within eighteen months he’d be graduating with a degree from a great school in a field that he loved, largely debt free thanks to the GI Bill. 

Life, for the most part, was good.

It was the last Thursday in November and Bucky was sat in his usual spot, working his way through a lab assignment for his senior programming course, when he was interrupted by the sound of a thud, an enormous weight dropping onto his lap, and his view of his laptop screen being suddenly obscured by someone’s face in the way.

Someone whose very masculine hands had most definitely just grabbed the sides of Bucky’s face and pressed their mouths together into a deep, ridiculously hot kiss that was currently in the process of frying his brain completely.

 “Please, _please_ go along with it…” the guy murmured against his mouth, before sitting back and grinning widely.   “Sorry I’m so late, deadlines are killing me – I’ve been in the studio more than I’ve been in my room this week.”

Bucky still felt completely thrown for a loop, but as he actually looked at the guy properly, he couldn’t help but play along.  While it was difficult to tell with him practically seated in Bucky’s lap, he could tell that the guy was tall – probably taller than Bucky, who was by no means small – and built like a brick shithouse.  He had dark blonde hair that flopped into his eyes, which were framed by thick, black plastic-rimmed glasses and were the bluest eyes that Bucky had ever seen.  To top it off he had eyelashes that supermodels would be jealous of, and pink, full lips that were just _meant_ for filthy kissing and far worse.

And Bucky… it had been a long, long time since he’d had the time and energy for a relationship, and now he’d had a walking wet dream literally fall into his lap.  So it wasn’t exactly surprising to realize that he didn’t mind rolling with the illusion.  “It’s fine, babe,” he responded with an easy smile, brushing the blonde’s bangs off of his forehead, “I’m just glad you made it; I was afraid I was going to have to come kidnap you.”

The guy blinked at him awkwardly for a second, apparently looking Bucky over for a moment as well – Bucky felt his stomach squirm awkwardly, trying to remember the last time he’d fixed his bun, and if the t-shirt he was wearing had been hanging up when he’d picked it out this morning or just crumpled in the clean pile in the corner of his room.  Either he passed inspection, or the blonde was just excited that he was going with… whatever this was, because Bucky was rewarded with an enormous grin which he couldn’t quite help smiling in response to. 

The guy – the friggin’ _Adonis_ , Bucky’s mind unhelpfully supplied – shifted slightly, sliding off of Bucky’s lap and turning so that he was crammed into the opposite side of the seat of the chair.  Even though the seat was large for an armchair, and Bucky himself was in great shape, it was a tight squeeze.  Thankfully, the guy’s waist seemed to be pretty tiny – almost laughably so, given the breadth of his impressive shoulders.  It took all of Bucky’s focus not to let his mind wander on how ridiculous his proportions were, and what it would feel like being pressed against him in a considerably more horizontal position.

“You’re one to talk,” Adonis chuckled agreeably, cuddling into Bucky’s side and gesturing towards his open laptop, “as if _you_ haven’t been squirreled away all week with homework here.”  Bucky looked at his laptop, blinking in stupid confusion and trying to figure out what the hell the guy was talking about.  Oh right… apparently the act that they were dating.  “What’s this, then?”  Adonis asked conversationally.

Luckily, Bucky could ramble about coding all day, and immediately launched into an explanation of the program that he was working on, eventually pulling up a second screen and launching the lab he had finished the previous night.  Huge Blonde Hottie was either an incredible actor or legitimately interested, grinning at Bucky’s enthusiasm when usually people outside of his program would be rolling their eyes and changing the topic or searching for an exit.  It only seemed right for Bucky to get him talking about his own projects in return, and soon Blonde Hottie had managed to produce a battered old iPad, flipping through his class portfolios and animatedly describing each project. 

He was even more gorgeous with his eyes lit up in excitement, Bucky couldn’t help thinking – although the continued casual touching probably didn’t hurt his opinion.  Their discussion on classwork soon morphed into talking about their families and growing up, realizing that they’d only lived a neighborhood apart from each other in Brooklyn and had both had a few years between graduating high school and starting college, so they could commiserate on the perpetual feeling of being outsiders.

At some point one of the baristas had refilled their cups (Bucky didn’t even remember the conversation being interrupted) and they’d moved on to more heavy topics.  Blonde Hottie’s earnest blue eyes made it considerably easier than usual for Bucky to talk about his tour in Afghanistan, and he seemed completely sincere when he said how impressive he thought Bucky’s service had been.  Of course, the fact that he’d wanted to join the Army himself made that a bit more believable, even if Bucky called bullshit on the idea that any branch of the armed forces would turn down anyone built like _that_. 

The story of the guy’s cancer diagnosis in middle school and subsequent chemo made him feel shitty as hell, but Blonde Hottie swore it was fine, that he’d become something of a gym rat once he’d gone into remission and was glad to know that finally, for the first time in his life, he didn’t _look_ sick.  Apparently he’d spent most of his childhood scrawny and unwell, meaning he was far more familiar with getting harassed and fighting bullies than he was with flirting and dating, although Bucky had half a mind to point out that he was doing a hell of a job of it, anyway.

They had just finished discussing their plans for winter break when Blonde Hottie sighed happily, squirming in his seat as he reached forward to set his now-empty coffee cup on the table away from Bucky’s notes, before glancing at the clock and gaping in surprise.  “Holy shit, I didn’t realize it had gotten so late,” he murmured, before looking quickly around at all the other tables and wilting back into the seat in relief.  “And he’s gone… dude, I can’t say thank you enough…”

Apparently they had been crammed together in the seat for hours – it was now completely dark out and looked like the staff in the shop had completely turned over.  “Um, you’re welcome?”  Bucky asked, a trace of amusement in his voice that hopefully masked his disappointment in the act suddenly wearing off. 

Despite the attempt, Hottie must have caught his tone – he glanced at Bucky for a moment with an unreadable expression, before running his hand over his face and laughing, the tips of his ears turning an endearing shade of red.  “I’m so sorry, let me try this from the beginning…” he groaned, before pushing himself back up to a seated position – which was more than a little awkward, given the way that it smashed their thighs together in the chair – then extended his hand with a  pleasant smile.  “Hi, my name’s Steve Rogers, I’m a sophomore and an art major and molested you in hopes that you’d pretend to be my boyfriend while I desperately tried to avoid my fucking ex who was eyeing me from that table in the back the second I walked through the door.”

Bucky shook his head and chuckled, still trying to ignore the weird sense of disappointment he felt in return for being glad that he now had a name for Blonde Hottie and that even if the easy afternoon of conversation had all been an act, there was _maybe_ a shot for it to turn into something more.  Maybe?

“James Barnes,” he responded pleasantly, shaking Steve’s paint-stained hand shortly, trying not to go completely slack-jawed as he got a better look at the ridiculous muscles and veins in his forearms, and felt the power and strength in his hand.  “Although I prefer to go by Bucky.  Junior computer engineering major, if the homework and nerdy conversation didn’t give it away.”

Steve threw his head back in laughter, grabbing the left side of his chest in a move that might have been the most adorable thing Bucky had ever seen before shaking his head and coming back to himself.  “Bucky, huh?  That’s… quite the nickname.  And really, the nerdy conversation was the best couple of hours I’ve had all month, so thanks again.  I owe you big, you have no idea.”

As he finished saying it, Steve gave him one last crinkly-eyed grin before leaning down and retrieving the messenger bag he’d apparently dropped beside the chair before attacking Bucky in the first place.  “At any rate, I’ll let you get back to your work.  Have a good one – it was nice meeting you, Bucky.”

He rose from the chair, leaving Bucky’s right side feeling chilled at the loss of body contact.  Try as he might, Bucky had no idea what his face was doing in response – he hoped that his pathetic disappointment wasn’t _too_ obvious, but his brain was so busy working out how to be a normal human being and find a way to get Steve to stay that it couldn’t waste processes on maintaining his expressions.  “Wait,” he finally said, leaning forward and grasping at one of Steve’s wrists before he could walk away.

Steve paused, turning back to look at him with a confused smile.

“Why’d you pick me in the first place?”  Bucky heard himself asking.  It had nothing to do with what he actually _wanted_ to say, but it was the first thing to pass his mouth filter.  Although – he found himself legitimately interested in the answer: while he knew he wasn’t necessarily a bad looking guy, Bucky also knew that he didn’t exactly look approachable, with his wall of books and notes and laptop, his long hair and the black leather jacket that was thrown over the back of the chair.  Not to mention the fact that while he figured they were relatively close in age – Steve had implied a couple of times during their conversation that he’d been sick a lot as a kid (hard to believe given how he looked now but what did Bucky know?), and so had been held back in starting college and was running the non-traditional route as well – Bucky still felt like he _looked_ at least 10 years older than him.

Steve smiled, adjusting the strap on his shoulder a bit awkwardly, before pointing at Bucky’s backpack tucked into the side of the chair.  “I saw your rainbow ribbon – figured at the very least, you shouldn’t be a homophobe who would kick my ass for doing it in the first place.”

It wasn’t the answer that Bucky necessarily wanted ( _because you’re gorgeous and I was smitten when I walked in and needed an excuse to suck your face_ ), but he figured it was fair enough.  He licked his lips after a beat, deciding to man up and try his luck for a change.  “Observant, that’s cool… although I don’t think there’s any way in hell I’d be able to kick your ass if I wanted to,” he said awkwardly, before giving Steve his most charming smile.  “But listen, before you go – I thought of how you could pay me back.  You _did_ say you own me.”

Steve’s face closed off a tiny bit at that… fuck, now he sounded like a creep… but he responded with enough nonchalance that it seemed okay.  “Yeah?  And how’s that?”

Bucky shrugged, leaning forward and closing down his laptop before answering.  “Come grab dinner with me,” thankfully his voice was FAR more calm than he was feeling, “you know… like a real date.”

Steve stared at him for a few horrible, silent seconds, before the eye-scrunching grin that Bucky was quickly falling in love with took over his face.  “Yeah?”  He asked, his eyes sweeping over Bucky’s face like he wasn’t quite sure that he could trust him to be serious.  Apparently he found what he was looking for, because he added, “Yeah – okay.” 

This time it was Bucky’s turn to grin as he threw the rest of his notes and books into his backpack, standing and throwing it over his left shoulder before putting his right arm around Steve’s and making their way towards the exit. 

The red-headed barista who usually worked Thursday evenings let out a whoop as they reached the door, yelling out “FINALLY!” as Bucky gave her the finger over his shoulder, grinning like an idiot as Steve laughed loudly into the night.


End file.
